Pre-Prosthetic Surgery in Lehi, UT

Before dentures or prosthetics can be placed in your mouth, every patient needs to undergo pre-prosthetic surgery. This surgery will prepare your mouth for the placement of dentures. Some patients will only require a minor surgical procedure before the placement of their dentures, like in the case of partial dentures. Others may need more extensive pre-prosthetic surgery, especially when complete dentures are going to be placed.

What Types of Pre-Prosthetic Surgery Are Available?

Because dentures sit on the bone ridge, it’s important that your bone is the proper size and shape to hold your dentures in place. Your oral surgeon may recommend bone reshaping or smoothing to help prepare you for dentures by removing excess bone or gum tissue. This preparation has the aim of ensuring that, once placed, your dentures fit comfortably and securely within your mouth.

Bone smoothing and reshaping are some of the most commonly needed procedures prior to the placement of dentures. Because the underlying bone in your jaw can be left uneven or shape after teeth extraction, bone smoothing and/or reshaping are often necessary to prepare you for denture placement. In doing so, your doctor will work to prevent the “sore spots” that are sometimes caused by poor bone shape prior to denture placement.

In some instances, the excess bone may need to be removed that will prevent your dentures from fitting properly within your mouth or sitting as they should. Your doctor will try to fabricate your dentures around this excess bone if it’s only present in small amounts. If there are large amounts of excess bone, they will remove it.

Excess gum tissue can also be an issue if you previously wore ill-fitting dentures. Pre-existing dentures can lead to excess folds of gum, cheek, or lip tissue that will need to be removed to allow your new dentures to fit properly.